Questions remain in West Haven murder-suicide

Published 10:58 pm, Monday, January 18, 2010

Selami Ozdemir in a photo taken by West Haven Police when he was booked Saturday night, just hours before killing himself and his wife in their Blohm Street home.

Selami Ozdemir in a photo taken by West Haven Police when he was booked Saturday night, just hours before killing himself and his wife in their Blohm Street home.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Questions remain in West Haven murder-suicide

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WEST HAVEN -- It was common knowledge Selami Ozdemir and his wife, Shengyl Rasim, were having problems, friends and neighbors said Monday, but the murder-suicide early Sunday has raised many unanswered questions.

"I knew they were fighting, but why didn't the police separate them?" asked Sami Kuru, owner of the Satay Turkish Restaurant on Campbell Avenue. Ozdemir, 41, and Rasim, 25, both Turkish immigrants, were frequent customers in the restaurant, Kuru said, as were their two sons.

Sgt. Martin Garcia, the West Haven police spokesman, said that the protective order in place since Ozdemir's September arrest for third-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor did not prohibit him from living in the home at 341 Blohm St. "He was living there, but when he was released from custody Saturday night, the conditions of his release were that he was to have no contact with his wife or to enter the home until he was presented in court on Tuesday.

"It was, in effect, a temporary protective order," Garcia said.

Ozdemir spent about 90 minutes in custody Saturday evening, while being booked on charges of disorderly conduct, risk of injury to a minor and third-degree assault. He was also charged with violating the September court order, which barred him from threatening or harassing his wife, Garcia said.

Police at this point don't know Ozdemir's whereabouts between 7 p.m. Saturday, when he posted his $25,000 bond and was released, and 4 a.m. Sunday, when police responding to a call from the home found the couple shot to death. They were called at 3:32 a.m. Sunday by Rasim, who reported that her husband had returned home and was banging on the door.

"When officers arrived, he had already left the scene, and they were unable to speak to him," Garcia said. "But they continued to look for him in the area."

Then, just before 4 a.m., a 911 call was received at the police department, but the dispatchers were "only able to hear the sound of crying and banging noises," he said.

The two boys, one 6 and the other 7 months old, were in the house, but Garcia said he had no information about where police found them after officers broke down the door and entered to find the bodies. The children were turned over to the state Department of Children and Families; no information was available Monday on whether they remain in state foster care. The older child may be interviewed as part of the investigation, Garcia said.

The demand for domestic violence services has increased with the poor economy, officials said. So have the number of fatal incidents between partners. Last Tuesday, Frank Dore was taken into custody and charged with murder soon after police discovered the body of his wife, Patti J. Rothermel-Dore, in their home on Forestview Road in Bridgeport. Dore remains in custody on $3 million bond.

On Saturday, the bodies of a couple in their 70s were found in a car in the commuter parking lot off the Merritt Parkway in Fairfield. State Police are investigating that incident as an apparent murder-suicide. West Haven has a large Turkish population, said Kuru, the restaurant owner. Although West Haven police could not say Monday whether the couple has relatives in the area, several out-of-state cars were on Blohm Street on Sunday while the crime scene was being processed.

Karen Grigo, who lives across Blohm Street from the murder-suicide scene, said Monday that Ozdemir and Rasim had often argued outside. "They were loud and they swore at each other in English," she said.

But Kuru said Turkey, especially in the larger cities, is similar to the United States. "The laws are practically the same, and men and women have the same rights in court," he said. "It is not a culture that disrespects women."

Garcia said the city's Turkish population is considered law-abiding and is not viewed as prone to crime or violence. "I wouldn't say they are any more likely to be involved in something like this than any other group," the police spokesman said.

Susan DeLeon, director of The Umbrella, a program serving battered women in the lower Naugatuck Valley area, said different cultures do seem to have different attitudes about spousal abuse. "We've had Turkish women in our shelter, and it is a male-dominated culture. I'm not sure if it's true with Turkish people, but in some ethnic groups, if you leave a relationship -- however abusive -- your family rejects you."

Another Blohm Street resident, Judy Gallagher, questioned how Ozdemir was able to get a gun if he'd already been arrested for domestic violence. He was to be arraigned Tuesday on the weekend charges and was scheduled to appear May 5 in Milford Superior Court for a status conference in the September case.

"To be that crazed -- to kill someone that you are supposed to love -- I wouldn't want to be living next door, especially if he had a gun," Gallagher said.

Garcia said that Ozdemir's pistol permit was revoked after his September arrest and that three guns were taken from him at that time. The dead man owned a downtown New Haven pizza restaurant, but he would not have been allowed to keep a gun for protection there, officials said.

The gun that killed the West Haven couple was registered -- though not to Ozdemir, Garcia said. He said that information on who the gun was registered to and how the man came to possess it is not yet available.

"It is still an ongoing investigation, though we are not seeking additional suspects," Garcia said.

John Williams, of New Haven, a civil rights lawyer, said police cannot detain a suspect without providing an opportunity for bail.

"The purpose of a bond is to ensure that the person shows up in court. It is not to provide a `cooling off period' in domestic violence cases," he said. "The law can only do so much, and it appears in this particular case that the police did all that they could."

Ozdemir's bond in the September case was $50,000, twice as high as the one set on the Saturday night charges. Garcia said the September arrest was for a felony, which triggered a higher bond. The West Haven police spokesman said he did not know who paid the man's bond Saturday night.

DeLeon said that it is unlikely that Rasim did, although battered women who are frightened enough of their batterers have been known to do that. "It doesn't sound like she felt threatened to that extent," she said. "Battered women tend to minimize what could happen, and sometimes they decide not to go into a shelter because they are embarrassed, or because it is an upheaval to leave everything all of a sudden."

Although neither Garcia nor DeLeon could say whether Rasim was offered the services of an emergency shelter Saturday night, they noted that she would have been familiar with at least some available programs from her husband's September arrest.

"There is counseling, there is anger management," DeLeon said. "But the problem is there isn't enough funding and staff. There are waiting lists for some programs and our shelter isn't staffed 24/7. Women shouldn't be dying; this is an outrage and we need tougher laws and more services."